


Odd Marks

by Streetlamp_Sunset



Series: Flower Language Soulmate AU [1]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Best Friends Stevie Budd & David Rose, F/M, Language of Flowers, Magical Realism, Queerplatonic Relationships, Sickfic, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:00:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24738073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Streetlamp_Sunset/pseuds/Streetlamp_Sunset
Summary: “If it makes you feel any better, nobody hates me more than me,” Stevie said as she swept into the office wearing the spare flannel David knew she kept in her back seat. “Generally speaking.”“Fair enough,” David said. He caught her dark, tired eyes across the counter; an amaranthus caudatus sprouted down the outside of his left thigh. He had given up on hoping for a soulmate a long time ago. “ I would've done the same thing.”
Relationships: Alexis Rose & David Rose, Stevie Budd & David Rose, Stevie Budd/David Rose
Series: Flower Language Soulmate AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1788787
Comments: 20
Kudos: 48





	1. Fawn Lily

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the only chapter of David's childhood. Chapter two picks up right away in Schitt's Creek.

David’s first soulmark bloomed on his skin when he was six years old. He tried to tell Johnny what happened through his tears, but he was more focused on David’s arm.

“What do you have there, son?” Johnny asked, crouching down to David’s level. David looked at his soulmarks, a garden of blooms. Like most of the population Johnny’s age, his tattoos were traditional. Johnny reached for David’s hand and slowly turned his arm. On David’s forearm, a fawn lily bloomed; a symbol of friendship and protection. 

“Jane, go fetch Moira, please,” Johnny said, suddenly looking very, very serious. Jane set Alexis on the floor where she sat chewing on the ear of her stuffed rabbit. “David,” Johnny said, gesturing to the armchair that sat in front of his desk, “Have a seat.” 

“Come on, Lex,” David held his arms out and she clamored to sit on his lap. He wrapped an arm around her waist, kicking his feet where they hung over the floor. “Daddy? My flower is for ‘lexis, right, because I love her?”

“That’s, uh,” Johnny rubbed his brow, fingers musing already bushy eyebrows. “That’s a fawn lily, David. It means protection and friendship.” He gestured to his children, “You don’t get soulmarks just from loving someone unless they’re your soulmate.” 

Alexis began to cry. David waved her rabbit around in front of her to keep her entertained. He thought then of the bloom of red roses on his mother’s collar bone and the back of his father’s left hand: their soulmark. 

“Your soulmarks are the physical manifestation of who you are,” Moira piped up from the door. She frowned at her children, “cease that caterwauling, please, Alexis, mummy's got a terrible headache.” 

“We can play sleepy mommy,” David offered. It was one of the few games she liked to play and she always gave him her full attention. David ran a hand through Alexis’ soft dark curls to calm her. 

“That would be marvelous dear,” Moira sighed, patting David on the head, “I knew you were my favorite.” David sat up straighter in his chair. He was pretty sure mommy and daddy loved him, but it was nice to hear that she liked him.

“Moira,” Johnny said, “David’s first soulmark came in.” Drawing her attention with his uncharacteristically somber tone, he continued, “Sweetheart, his blooms are linework.”

“No,” Moira wailed, “Not my first born son, not my David!” David shrunk back, curling around his sister. “There, there, dear,” Johnny said, patting and rubbing Moira’s back. He made eye contact with David over her shoulder, smiling encouragingly, “David’s going to be just fine, aren’t you, son?”

David’s lip wobbled. He didn’t know why, but this felt scary. Mommy was crying and so was Alexis. He took a deep breath like one of the nicer nannies had taught him, trying to calm the butterflies in his tummy. David bounced and rocked Alexis; he would be her very best friend. He would protect her her whole life, so she would never have to be scared like him. He could do it; his soul mark said so. A gladiolus grew down his spine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flower Language:  
> Fawn Lily - friendship, protection  
> Gladiolus - strength, determination, generosity
> 
> Thank you for reading!  
>  ❤️ Sunset


	2. Bee Balm

Stevie was the first person David met in Schitt's Creek with odd marks. Unlike David, who had long taken to wearing sweaters, even in the dead of summer, Stevie didn't seem to mind showing them. Not that there was much to see. Stevie's marks were bio floral, swaths of bare skin cut across her blooms so they looked like they were growing out of her. 

Odd marks were hard to interpret, but David had more practice than most. A cluster of yellow carnations peaked from the crook of her elbow like an old bruise. 

“My mother,” Stevie explained when she caught him touching his own inner elbow reflexively. Stevie was hanging sheets on the line outside the motel, David sketching at the picnic table. “It went both ways,” She said, shrugging. Still, it was hard to carry rejection and disdain in such a soft place. 

* * *

David was, reluctantly, checking in early motel guests. Stevie had left him at the bar last night to go home with a random and had forgotten to set an alarm. She had woken David with a frantic call when she realized. She didn’t have anyone else to ask. 

“If it makes you feel any better, nobody hates me more than me,” Stevie said as she swept into the office wearing the spare flannel David knew she kept in her back seat. “Generally speaking.”

“Fair enough,” David said. He caught her dark, tired eyes across the counter; an amaranthus caudatus sprouted down the outside of his left thigh. He had given up on hoping for a soulmate a long time ago. “ I would've done the same thing.” David passed her a coffee and went back to his room to get ready for the day.

“David,” Alexis asked, peering over her magazine as he got dressed, “is that a new little group of lines, there?” 

David had relatively few soul marks for someone his age. They were fussy like that, reluctant to bloom for those who had stopped inviting them. David resolutely ignored the theorized phenomenon that one bloomed more often around their soulmate. 

“Ooo, no, let me see, David,” she said. Alexis, with her soft watercolor blooms, had always been equal parts possessive of and intrigued by his odd marks. When she was still small enough, she would crawl into his lap and beg him to tell her the story of his fawn lily. Until she started to get her own, they spent hours tracing the new lines of his marks when they appeared.

David pulled the first sweater he touched over his head.

“Walk into traffic, Alexis,” he said pleasantly, slamming their door behind him. They were probably just stress blooms. 

* * *

For all of Stevie’s brashness, she folded pretty quickly when David told her to go back to bed. He’d taken one look at her unwashed hair and pale face and closed the office for the day. Taking care of someone with the stomach flu wasn’t exactly in his wheelhouse, but he recruited Jocelyn to make soup and bought some herbs and oils from Twyla. 

“Feeling any better?” David asked from where he was perched at the end of her bed. He cradled his own bowl of soup in his lap. 

Stevie grimaced, curled in on herself, and promptly vomited across her quilt. He set his bowl off to the side, catching hers before it could tip and make more of a mess. Stevie groaned and moved as if she was going to get up to clean it herself. David gently pushed her back down, gathering up the quilt around the edges. He had seen Stevie do laundry dozens of times. It couldn’t be that difficult. 

It was unreasonably complicated. David poked his head back into her bedroom. “Okay, so the blanket is technically in the washer, but there are a lot of buttons.” Stevie shot him a watered down version of her typical teasing smirk. “Also, laundry soap is a thing, which I do not know how to use.” David wrung his hands together as she stared at him, “I’m glad you’re finding amusement in my discomfort.” Stevie snorted.

“Just wash it on cold, David, normal setting,” she said and he turned to walk back down the hall. “Don’t use bleach,” she called after him. David poked around her kitchen, coming up with a gatorade and some crackers. He found her brushing her teeth, forehead pressed to the cool surface of the mirror. 

“You should go,” Stevie dropped her toothbrush back into its holder, “you’re going to get sick.”

“Yeah,” David said, “probably.” He pulled her hair away from her face and gathered it into a french braid. He tied it off with the extra elastic he kept in his bag for Alexis. “Unfortunately for you, I’m a lot harder to get rid of.” Stevie met his eyes in the mirror as the thin, red petals of a bee balm flower bloomed in the shell of her ear. David’s hands itched to touch the mark; he settled for lightly squeezing her shoulders.

Stevie’s fingers ran over the ridges of the plait as she moved to lay back down, a tired smile on her face. David handed her the crackers and lay a new quilt over the bed. 

“Thank you,” Stevie said as he settled in next to her. She pulled the covers up around them, “for staying.” He scrolled through Netflix's 80’s rom com category on her laptop while she tried to prod her pillows into a more comfortable position.

“Mmhm,” David pulled her to curl up against his chest. “Your apartment has much better wifi than the motel.” 

Stevie batted his hand away from the laptop and clicked on Pretty Woman. If she let him decide it would take another half an hour.

“You should ask management to do something about that,” she said and David, mostly, ignored the cracker crumbs she was leaving all over his sweater.

“I have, actually,” David said. He wrapped an arm around her, smoothing his hand down Stevie’s back the way the more competent nannies had done for him when he was sick. “The comment box is full of suggestions,” David handed her the Gatorade off the nightstand so she could take a drink. 

“The comment box is more of a gesture,” Stevie said as she passed the bottle back to him.

“Oh, that much is clear.”

Stevie laughed and a sweeping of azalea grew where his rib cage gave way to his stomach. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tattoo Styles:  
> David - Linework  
> Johnny - Traditional  
> Moira - Traditional  
> Stevie - Biofloral (biomechanical, but flowers)  
> Alexis - Watercolor
> 
> Flower Language:  
>  Amaranthus caudatus - hopelessness, hopeless love  
>  Azalea - homesickness, caring for a loved one  
>  Bee Balm - protection from illness, restful sleep  
>  Fawn Lily - friendship, protection  
>  Gladiolus - strength, determination, generosity  
>  Yellow Carnations - rejection and disdain
> 
> Thank you for reading!  
>  ❤️ Sunset


	3. King Protea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: explicit sex

David had meant to zip up the jumpsuit before anyone could see his marks, but Ronnie had looked him in the eye and asked if he’d ever killed before and his brain short circuited for a moment. He turned to find Stevie’s eyes locked on his arm, horrendous camouflage only half way on. After he jerked the zip up to his neck, she handed him the gun with the scope, so he could see the head. 

“You don’t have to do this,” Stevie said quietly as they knelt side by side behind a downed tree. It smelled wet, decay and rot filled his lungs. Leaves stuck to his Rick Owens. The gun was heavy in his arms, probably the first real gun he’d ever held. 

Ronnie’s calloused hands wrapped around his, soft and trembling, guiding him into position. It was easier than he thought it would be, pulling the trigger. The damp earth soaked through the jumpsuit, forming a wet splotch on his knee.

“You okay?” Stevie asked as the bird twitched on the forest floor. He’d shot it in the neck. They were waiting for it to die.

“I feel like one of the manson girls,” David watched as the earth became dark with blood. A marigold etched itself low on the back of his neck, petals curling over his shoulder.

“First one’s tough,” Ronnie clapped him on the back, “even tougher when you shoot it in the neck, cause then it takes longer to die.” 

“Not helping, Ronnie,” Stevie said, but when the rest of the birds wandered into the clearing, she too raised her gun. He clapped his hands over his ears as they began to shoot. 

David didn’t understand this part of her, but he was grateful to have seen it.

* * *

They pushed through the door to the honeymoon suite, floaty and uncoordinated. Stevie slumped against it, head tipped back with laughter as her family yelled about the state of the room. She was so loud. They were going to hear. David lurched forward to seal their mouths together. The kiss was hungry and frantic. Stevie’s tongue pushed past his lips and he gasped as arousal buzzed through him. David’s knuckles scraped the door; he was still holding their beer. He extended his arms, dropping the bottles as Stevie ran her hands up his back. 

David pulled the sunglasses off her face. He swept her hair to the side, mouthing at her exposed throat. Stevie’s breath caught. He glanced up to see the vivid red bee balm petals pushing through her skin. He had put them there; those were his petals. Proof that he had taken care of her. David sucked her earlobe into his mouth. He nipped at the shell of her ear, pulling back to examine the half moon indent his teeth had left there. Stevie moaned and David glanced down to see that she had shoved a hand down the front of her jeans.

David brought it to his mouth, sucking the wetness off her fingers. Stevie let out a garbled groan, kicking off her shoes and tugging at her pants with her free hand. David reached out to help her, laughing as her fingers curled in his mouth, running along the ridges of his teeth. Stevie shrugged out of her jacket, frowning at the buttons of her flannel as she tried to undo them. David bent down to untie his own shoes, kicking them off to the side. He hooked a hand in the waistband of his pants, pulling them and his boxers down and throwing them over the back of a chair.

“David, help,” Stevie said, dropping her head against his chest as she tugged at the uncooperative buttons. Fortunately, getting out of clothes while fucked up was one of David’s specialties, so he undid the buttons in a series of precise motions. “Impressive,” Stevie looped an arm around his neck to pull him down for a kiss. Her other hand curled around his half hard cock, giving it a few experimental strokes. “Impressive,” she repeated, smirking against his mouth.

“Oh my god,” David laughed. He slid his hands down her sides, turning them so she was the one facing the door. They made their way to the bed. Stevie fell on her back, giggling as she bounced against the springs. David’s hands froze on the hem of his sweater. He had a few marks on his legs, but most of them were still hidden. 

“It’s okay,” Stevie said, voice soft and raspy, “Take it off, David.” He peeled the sweater over his head, tossing it on the chair with the rest of his things, and crawled onto the bed. Stevie looked up at him and smirked, “you’re still wearing your hat, brah.” She knocked it off his head, fingers tangling in his hair to yank him down to her mouth. 

David braced a hand on either side of her head, lowering himself down to lay on top of her. They groaned in unison as his cock pressed between her legs. Stevie rolled her hips and he rocked back against her, the head of his cock nudging at her clit. “David,” she gasped, arching her back.

David nosed at the corner of her jaw, leaving a chaste kiss there before moving down her body. A cluster of borage blooms sprouted from the ribs over her heart. He traced them with a gentle finger, admiring her bluntness. David bent his head to suck her nipple into his mouth. He cupped her other breast in his hand, pinching the hardened nub. Stevie arched under him, panting breathlessly as he bit lightly before pulling back and blowing a hot puff of breath over the tenser skin. David moved across her chest, nuzzling the red columbine flowering between her breasts. He licked the hard nub of her nipple with a firm, flat tongue, before sucking a dark hickey onto the skin of her breast. Stevie’s hand tangled in his hair, not pulling, just scraping at his scalp with blunt nails.

David turned her other arm over, kissing the bend of her elbow. His tongue laved at the rejection and disdain like he could wash it away. Stevie made a wounded sound, but she held him there when he shifted to look up at her. He placed a gentle kiss on the edge of the carnations before moving away. There was a belt of foxglove along the curve of her stomach. David left a trail of kisses along the insecurity, tongue dipping into her belly button. 

Stevie shivered and he brought his hand over to curl around her hip. David’s thumb moved in lazy circles over one hip bone while his mouth sucked a dark hickey in the hollow of the other. David worried the sensitive skin with his teeth and Stevie moaned, hips jumping off the bed. 

When he pulled away bright red roses bloomed from the spot, filling the curve of her hip. He glanced across her body to see pink ones blooming along the other. 

“David,” Stevie choked, yanking at his hair. He glanced up, expecting to see her looking down at him, but her eyes were locked on the mirror. Two hemp plants were sprouting along the sides of David’s spine, following the path her hands had taken when she first kissed him. Stevie touched the tip of a leaf with a shaking hand. Her soulmark, proof of her love for him. She looked fucking terrified. 

“Stevie,” David reached up to cup her jaw. Stevie’s wide eyes snapped to meet his. “Stevie, look,” he brushed his thumbs along her hips. Stevie’s face softened as she took in their soulmark.

“Well, that’s possessive,” she said, hands ghosting over the soft, intimate place he had marked her. “They’re beautiful,” she added after a moment, voice rough with emotion.

“Mmm,” David hummed, crawling up her body to capture her mouth, “only the best for my soulmate.” Stevie laughed, but it quickly turned into a desperate moan as his cock rubbed against her. She was soaking wet, desire coursing through her. David groaned, dropping his head to rest in the hollow of her throat. 

“Fuck, David,” she said, rolling her hips against him. Stevie reached down to spread some of her own arousal on his cock. She guided him to her entrance, moaning as he entered her with a sharp thrust. “fuck, yes, David,” she gasped, hands flailing out to claw at the blankets, “fuck me.” He thrust into her at a brutal pace, reaching down to thumb at her clit as he fucked her. Stevie gasped, hips jumping against his hand. David pressed the pads of his fingers into the roses. _I love you._

“Stevie,” he said against her throat. David groaned, mouthing at her neck. He nipped at the hickey he had left there, sucking the skin back into his mouth. Stevie moaned, arching into his thrusts. Fuck, she felt so good, hot and tight around him. Stevie widened her legs, throwing one over his shoulder. David turned his head to kiss her calf. At this angle, he rubbed against her g spot with each thrust. Stevie let out a broken cry and heliotrope flowered in the bend of her knee. Her gaze caught the flash of the dark purple blooms as they etched their way onto her skin. Her eyes watered with the admission of devotion.

“David,” Stevie gasped, pleasure coursing through her as he thrust into her with a deliberate snap of his hips, “do that again.” David did, fucking her with purpose as her orgasm mounted. He rubbed rough circles on her clit as she tipped over the edge. She cried out and raked her nails down his back. David moaned as he felt her clench down around him; her nails drew sharp lines over their soulmark. David felt himself begin to come at the thought of their marks, hips letting out a few last thrusts while Stevie rode out the last waves of her own orgasm. He slid her leg off his shoulder, lowering himself to kiss her as his cock pulsed inside her.

“Stevie,” David gasped against her mouth, “that was.”

“Yeah,” Stevie's face broke out into a grin. He wrapped his arms around her, rolling them so she could lay on his chest.

The next day, Alexis invited them to dinner with her and her soulmate, Ted. They were in the middle of packing all of his extra sweaters from the honeymoon suite into boxes. Stevie agreed to let him use all of the hanging space in the closet at their apartment as long as she could still wear his clothes whenever she wanted.

“David,” Stevie said. He turned to find her holding out a button down he had nearly forgotten about. It was covered in black, grey, and white roses. It was also meant to be rolled up to the elbow. “You could wear this instead,” she eyed the black and white sweater he had been planning on wearing. “You don’t need to hide your marks, not anymore.” 

David pulled his sweater over his head, folding it and setting it in the box with the others. He took the hanger, running a fond hand over the roses, and slid his arms through the sleeves.

Stevie stepped forward to catch the tails of the shirt. David stilled, breath catching as she buttoned it all the way up. She lifted his silver chain from where it lay against his throat and tucked it under the collar before cuffing the sleeves. “There,” Stevie smoothed her hands over his shoulders, the touch grounding him.

“Thank you,” he said, voice rough with emotion. David leaned down to kiss his soulmate; A king protea bloomed on his elbow.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tattoo Styles:  
> David - Linework  
> Johnny - Traditional  
> Moira - Traditional  
> Stevie - Biofloral (biomechanical, but flowers)  
> Alexis - Watercolor
> 
> Flower Language:  
> Amaranthus caudatus - hopelessness, hopeless love  
> Azalea - homesickness, caring for a loved one  
> Bee Balm - protection from illness, restful sleep  
> Borage - bluntness, directness, courage  
> Fawn Lily - friendship, protection  
> Foxglove- insecurity  
> Gladiolus - strength, determination, generosity  
> Heliotrope - eternal love, devotion  
> Hemp - love, peace, healing, vision and meditation  
> King Protea - courage, daring, transformation  
> Marigold - cruelty, grief, jealousy, passion/courage  
> Pink Rose - platonic love  
> Red Columbine - anxiety  
> Red Rose - romantic love  
> Yellow Carnations - rejection and disdain
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> ❤️ Sunset


End file.
